Hello dearies! This is the new and much improved version of my story. Being rewritten as of August 2015.

This story is loosely based off the movie Mean Girls - although obviously, it has a complete VA spin (as well as my own touch). I hope you guys like it.

Let me know what you think of chapter 1 please :)

Chapter 1

RPOV

Dread.

It was the very first emotion I became aware of upon opening my eyes that morning. For one blissful handful of seconds, I didn't feel it. In fact, I didn't feel anything at all.

But then it was there, rooted deep in the pit of my stomach, making my already empty stomach want to void itself of its non-existent contents.

"Ugh…" I groaned to myself, rolling over onto my stomach before burying my head into my pillow.

September 1st.

The worst day of the year. I hated it.

My alarm chimed annoyingly from somewhere on the floor beneath me – possibly hidden under a scattered pile of clothing. I had thrown it from my nightstand a few mornings ago and hadn't bothered to go searching for it yet. Now I wished I had so that I could've flung it across the room once more.

With a loud sigh to myself, I managed to force my body out of bed. My bedroom – and apartment, for that matter – was not in a clean state. If it wasn't for the blaring sound being emitted from my clock, I would never have known where to find it. Digging it up from underneath an old shirt, I slammed the 'off' button – perhaps a little too harshly – before placing it back beside my bed.

Now that I was up, my bed didn't quite have the same appeal it did a couple of minutes ago. Hiding from the world under my comforter didn't actually make me feel better, but sometimes, it was necessary.

I manoeuvred through the mess on the floor of my room before making it to my cramped bathroom. That room had also seen better days. Ignoring the mess, I grabbed my makeup and began applying my usual heavy black lines of eyeliner and a more than generous amount of mascara. The intensity caused people to go out of their way to avoid me, I had learned. Whether it was out of fear, or nervousness? I didn't know, nor did I care. They left me alone; that was what mattered. I had been hiding my face with a mask of makeup for so long now that I didn't even need a mirror to do it – what was the matter if it wasn't perfect anyway? It wasn't as if people noticed.

Besides it was just as well I knew how to do it without looking – I had scribbled all over my mirror with permanent marker a few nights ago to avoid having to look at myself.

The mere idea of returning to Saint Vladimir's – my hellhole of a high school – had kept me awake these past few nights. A knot had formed in my stomach as the first day of school approached and tightened sorely every time I gave it a single thought, reminding me of how painful my days were about to become. I had loved the freedom of the summer holidays and not having to face the people I hated with my very core every single day.

So avoid it, I told myself over my breakfast. Why put yourself through hell today when you can stay at home in bed instead?

I had already half-convinced myself to ditch school today when my phone chimed.

Don't even think about it, bitch. I'm dragging you to school whether you like it or not.

Adrian. My totally gay best friend was the only person in the entire world that I let into my little bubble, and even that had its limits. In this case, he knew me well enough to know where exactly my train of thoughts would lead me this morning.

With a sigh, I stood and dumped the remains of my cereal into the sink. Grabbing my phone and keys, I shoved them into my bag and unlocked the front door.

As I hurried down the steps, waving to my neighbour, Mikhail, as I did so, I couldn't help but feel sad. I should have been excited, or even anxious, about entering my final year of high school. But no. I felt anxious about my senior year for a whole other reason.

Leaving my apartment, I turned to shut my gate and heard the familiar honk of a car behind me.

"Adrian," I greeted him as I sat into the passenger seat.

"Rose," Adrian replied in the same tone. I rolled my eyes at his mocking. "Mikhail is looking fine today."

"He's straight, Adrian," I sighed. "And he's wearing a bathrobe."

"I'm not talking about his bathrobe," Adrian shot back, choosing to ignore the first part of my sentence. "It's what under his bathrobe that matters."

"Ew, dude, I don't want to think about that," I groaned, lifting my feet up onto the dashboard. Adrian immediately swatted them until I gave in and returned them to the ground.

"You're no fun," I muttered moodily under my breath. Beside me, I heard Adrian sigh.

"That's rich coming from you, Little Miss Sunshine," he shot back. "Would it have killed you to put on something other than black? We're going to school, not a funeral."

"Same thing," I replied. I could practically feel Adrian roll his eyes as I glanced sideways out of the car window. I had dressed today the same as I did any other day – with nothing but black, much to Adrian's dismay. While he was happy to incorporate bright, happy colours into his wardrobe, I had discovered that black helped me blend into the background more. That was what I wanted. That was the key to surviving high school.

Neither of us said anything else on the ride to school. Adrian hummed along gently to whatever song was playing on the radio while I tried to ignore the growing feel of dread in my stomach. By the time Adrian had pulled up outside, I could feel sweat on my trembling palms.

"Now," Adrian spoke up, switching off the engine and turning in his seat to face me. "Remember, what is our goal for this year?"

"To stay alive," I replied immediately, undoing my seatbelt. Adrian sighed, clearly resisting the urge to smack his own forehead.

"No. To make friends and have some fun."

"I don't need friends. I have you."

"As sweet as that is," Adrian gave me a small smile. "We're not going to have each other forever, Rose. Next year I'll be off to college and you'll be here on your own. You'll need someone to be there when I can't be."

"I'll be fine on my own!" I shot back defensively, unable to meet his sympathetic gaze. Truth be told, I couldn't stand the idea of him leaving…not that I would ever admit that to him. "I've been living by myself for almost a year now and have never had a problem."

Adrian made a face – one that I chose to ignore. He was no doubt also thinking about my dingy apartment that resembled a dumpsite most of the time. I was thankful that he didn't press the matter however. Instead, we turned to focus our attention on the school carpark before us, which was already swarming with students. I had to dig my fingers into the sides of the seat beneath me to stop myself from sinking to the floor. Adrian shot me a worried glance.

"Are you ready for this?"

"No. But I can do it."

"Of course you can," Adrian reached over and pried my tight grip from the seat. "Come on, Rose, it's our senior year! This is supposed to be the best year of our lives!"

"Yeah," I mumbled sarcastically. "If you survive it."

"Lighten up," Adrian gave my arm a playful poke. "It's not going to be as bad as you think. Besides, I heard from a certain gossip-craving, extremely reliable little birdy by the name of Jenna Johnson that there's a new girl from out of town. That should take the heat off of you."

"Wha-" My head snapped in the direction of my best friend. "And you didn't think to tell me this before now?" Adrian just shrugged in response as I felt a wave of relief swept over me.

"A new girl…" I mused. I couldn't think of a time when I had been more grateful. With news like this, I couldn't help but feel my mood lift ever so slightly.

The student body was made of vultures disguised as teenagers. If what Adrian had heard was true, then the school would be all over this new girl…meaning that nobody would bother me. And by 'nobody' I meant Natasha Ozera and her bitchy cult in particular. I couldn't even bring myself to feel bad for this new student. Why should I? I was just glad that it wasn't me.

I found it easier to climb out of the car then, weaving my way through the throng of students meeting and socialising with one another after their months apart. I had spent most of my summer days with Adrian. I had no other friends to greet after our short period away from school.

Adrian followed me to our locker area…Coincidently, our lockers happened to be right next to one another's (there was nothing coincidently about that particular assignment – I had snuck into the administrative office at the end of last year when the assignments were being done up and switched some names around so that Adrian and I could have neighbouring lockers). Of course, no one apart from Adrian and I knew about that and I intended to keep it that way.

As per usual on the first day of school, there were delays in just about every aspect of school-life. Teachers and students alike were late to their first classes due to greeting friends and colleagues as well as being generally disorganised. Despite knowing this, I decided it was best to just go and sit in my first class of the day and wait, which – thankfully – Adrian was also registered to be in.

Upon arrival, we took their usual seats in Ms Karp's classroom. I had always liked her…at least, as much as a student could actually like one of their teachers. I didn't like a lot of people, but Ms Karp was…tolerable, to say the least. Not to mention that she was always forgiving and even understanding of me when I fell behind with my school work. Of course me, being the reasonable person I am, in turn never gave Ms Karp any kind of cheek or hassle. I figured it was only fair, right?

While waiting for the teacher to arrive, I found myself doodling on my desk like usual…at least until Adrian piped up from his seat right in front of me.

"Oh my god, there she is! Rose, look!"

I glanced up in the direction he was pointing just on time to see a tall, blonde-haired girl enter the classroom looking nervous. I wasn't surprised to feel a small amount of anger shoot through me. The new girl looked like yet another long-legged, blonde-haired, conceited rich girl…as if their school needed yet another one of those.

Despite my initial reaction however, I found myself glued to the girl's face – every feature screamed nerves and anxiety, not snobby. I immediately chastised myself for doing the one thing that I condemned others for doing – being judgemental. I didn't even know this new girl. For once, I decided to take the advice Adrian gave me on a daily basis, and give the girl a chance.

The new girl's wary eyes were scanning the room. I felt a little confused. Was she looking for something? Whatever it was, she seemed to find as she walked steadily in mine and Adrian's direction. There's an empty seat beside me, I realised. The new girl was looking for a place to sit.

"I wouldn't sit there if I were you," I warned the girl, before she could sit down. "That seat's been broken for years. You sit on it, you'll crash straight to the floor…that's not exactly the kind of incident that you want to put yourself on the school's map, is it? Once you've gotten a label, there's no going back." I ignored the warning look Adrian sent in my direction. I was just trying to be helpful.

"This seat's free," Adrian supplied helpfully, gesturing to the table beside him. The new girl gave him a small, thankful smile before taking the seat he had pointed to. Before any of us could say anything else, Ms Karp arrived.

It's true that considering how much I struggled with school work that I should have listened to the first class of the semester…but I couldn't help but be distracted by Adrian. He spent the entire class watching and oogling the new girl next to him.

"Could you have been more stalker-ish?" I joked, rolling my eyes at him after class. "You did not stop staring at her!"

Adrian didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. Instead, he just shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not like I was sending her dirty looks-"

"No," I interrupted. "You save those for me."

"I was admiring her cheekbones," Adrian continued, ignoring my comment. "Did you see her bone structure? It was incredible! Oh, and her eyes? I am so jealous – they're like sparkling emeralds!"

"Adrian," I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Your eyes are green too."

"Yeah, but not that green!"

"If I didn't know you were gay, I would tease you to no end over that last comment," I delivered a nice punch to his arm, much to his dismay. Instead of lecturing me about bruising and abusive relationships, Adrian chose to let it slide this time and linked his arm with mine as we made our way down the hallway.

"You wanna ditch?" I turned and asked him. The door to the classroom of our next class was locked. I wasn't known for my patience and figured this was as good a time as any to make my escape. Not to mention, Stan – aka 'Mr Asshole' – was the teacher of my next class. The first day of school was difficult enough without having to endure that dickhead for a whole forty minutes. Oh, and he taught history - my least favourite subject.

It didn't get much worse than that.

Adrian shot me a disapproving look.

"Oh please," I begged him, giving him my best puppy eyes. "I just can't deal with Stan right now; you know he likes to target me."

"You promised me."

"I promised you that I would go to school this morning," I corrected him diplomatically. "And I'm here, aren't I? However I made no such promises about staying for the entire day."

Adrian was more than used to my little 'loopholes' and logic by now, and only rolled his eyes in response.

"Fine."

I grinned at him before placing a quick kiss to his cheek. "You're the best, you know that, right?"

"I know that."

We hurried towards the back door of the school, making sure to go the longer way to avoid any run-ins with teachers. This was a tactic that we had well-rehearsed by now. I didn't even get a thrill out of it anymore.

"You want to go to the park?" Adrian suggested once we were in his car. I nodded, just glad to be leaving that nightmare of a school behind us until tomorrow.

Adrian and I spent the next couple of hours joking and messing about in the park. It was early evening by the time he dropped me back home. While showering off the last of the lingering effects of September first, my thoughts deviated towards the new girl.

Truth be told, I felt a little bad for her. It wasn't easy being in the limelight in my school – it was sort of like being the only fresh piece of meat being thrown into a hungry pit of lions. I shuddered, remembering my own experience of being the meat. I pushed the dark thoughts away, unable to dwell on the past. What happened had happened and there was nothing she could do about it – instead I found it more helpful to just focus on surviving my senior year.

I woke up exhausted the next morning. For some reason or another, my dreams had been plagued with the new girl. Confusion set in the very moment I opened my eyes. What was it about her that was bothering me so much? Did I actually feel guilty that someone else was taking the unwanted attention from me?

Maybe it was my lack of sleep…or perhaps I was just crazy or masochistic or something…but the following morning I actually allowed my brain to entertain to possibility of talking to the new girl. Adrian had suggested I make some new friends – maybe he was right. And person who didn't know of any past school rumours seemed like a pretty good place to start.

"You're acting weird this morning," Adrian noted on our way to school the next morning. I could feel his scrutinising eyes studying me closely from the driver's seat. "And you're early. What's going on?"

"Nothing is 'going on,'" I rolled my eyes. "I just thought that if we got to class a few minutes early, we could introduce ourselves to the new girl."

I swear Adrian almost swerved off of the road.

"Watch it!" I yelped as cars honked in annoyance from behind us. "Are you trying to kill us?"

Adrian chose to not reply to that.

"Are you serious?" He exclaimed. "We can't talk to the new girl."

"Well, why not?" I questioned, brows furrowed. It wasn't often that Adrian denied me talking to anyone…in fact, he was always the one pushing me forward and I was the one resisting.

"Are you kidding me?" He looked at me, aghast. "She's way too hot to talk to us."

"Hey!" I shot him a mock-offended look.

"Well, actually," Adrian's expression became calculating before he gave me a sly once over. "If I recall correctly, I seem to remember you being quite the hottie a couple of years ago…but I can't really remember what you look like under all that dark make-up and baggy clothes."

"Shut up, Adrian," I retorted, feeling uncomfortable. Even though he was teasing, I still found myself folding my arms over myself self-consciously. I didn't like when people made comments about my looks – even Adrian. Mostly because there was some truth to what he had said. I had been gorgeous…but being good-looking hadn't had quite as many advantages as everyone else seemed to think. It drew more attention to me than I wanted…particularly after everything that had happened.

So then I had chosen to undergo a makeover, replacing all clothes in my closet with ones that would help hide my figure. My little transformation had of course, stirred up some more talk about me…but everyone was already talking about me anyway, so I figured I could stand one more spin on the gossip merry-go-round before hopefully going silent for good.

And that was exactly what had happened.

The guys no longer wanted me. The girls no longer wanted to be me. After 'it' had happened, everything had gone to hell.

I struggled to repress a shudder at the memories.

Adrian clearly sensed my change in mood and knew better than to provoke me further. Instead I let the silence wrap around me comfortingly, until we pulled up in Adrian's parking space. We didn't even speak once we were both seated in our usual spots in Ms Karp's classroom, but when the new girl entered the room, I saw Adrian's head lift.

He was going to talk to her, I realised. Who was I kidding? Of course he was. Adrian would do anything for me, even if he didn't really want to, because that was the kind of friend he was. Her best friend.

"Can I just saw," Adrian began, grabbing the girl's attention. "That you have the most gorgeous bone structure. And holy shit your hair…is that blonde your natural shade?"

I couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped my lips. Sometimes I swore Adrian made an effort to act extra gay just to cheer her up. The new girl looked both stunned and flattered by his comment.

"This is Adrian," I piped up with a smile. "And in case you haven't already noticed, he's as camp as a row of tents. And I'm Rose."

"It's nice to meet you both," she gave us both a warm, yet slightly nervous smile. I couldn't help but notice how white her teeth were. "I'm Lissa."